Question

the movement of the progress bar may be uneven because questions can be worth more or less (including zero) depending on your answer. read the following paragraph from an essay: residents of the western u.s. must prepare for larger and more damaging wildfires in the years to come. these are inevitable because of two consequences of global warming that make forests more likely to burn: shorter and dryer winters, and frequent and long - lasting droughts. in the past, large, slow - melting snowpacks kept the forest cool, lush, and moist well until fall. lately, small snowpacks that disappear by early spring mean grass and shrubs are dry and ready to burn by mid - summer. intense droughts kill not just smaller plants but large trees, too, so that wildfires have enough fuel to spread more easily and burn hotter than ever before. the topic sentence of this paragraph is
esidents of the western u.s. must prepare for larger and more damaging wildfires in the years to come.\ what part of the passage provides evidentiary support? ∘ lately, small snowpacks that disappear by early spring mean grass and shrubs are dry and ready to burn by mid - summer. ∘ in the past, large, slow - melting snowpacks kept the forest cool, lush, and moist well until fall. intense droughts kill not just smaller plants but large trees too, so that wildfires have enough fuel to spread more easily and burn hotter than ever before. ∘ these are inevitable because of two consequences of global warming that make forests more likely to burn: shorter and dryer winters, and frequent and long - lasting droughts.

Explanation:

The topic sentence is about western U.S. residents preparing for more damaging wildfires. The option D explains the reason (two consequences of global warming making forests more flammable) which provides the necessary evidentiary support for why the wildfires will be more damaging and why residents need to prepare. The other options either describe past conditions (option B), current small - scale impacts (option A), or the result of droughts on wildfire spread (option C) but do not provide the overarching reason for the inevitability of more damaging wildfires as option D does.

Answer:

D. These are inevitable because of two consequences of global warming that make forests more likely to burn: shorter and dryer winters, and frequent and long - lasting droughts.